


Between Ghosts

by aruhime



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 22:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15850545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aruhime/pseuds/aruhime
Summary: And Laurent sees past those brute muscles and messy hair, finding a warm, kind heart. Damen is right, Laurent thinks as he swings his sword forward, that he will treat Damen's heart tenderly – because Damen deserves it.





	Between Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> This is done because I want to write a fic based on 5SOS's Ghost of You but I can't think of any prompt without the usual ghost cliche, and then I re-read Captive Prince and found the perfect paragraph! It is from Laurent's pov of the scene.  
> Disclaimer: all the conversation is illegally snatched from the novel, but all the narration is mine.  
> Not beta read, and I just desperate to write something because my laptop's broken :( I typed this in my uni's computer lol.  
> And also, I wrote this (with hand!) and listened to BTS Jin's Epiphany on loop.

Laurent's early training had mirrored Auguste's, and there was something heartbreaking about the way that he conjured him up now, half embodying his style, as Kastor embodied Damen's, a fight between ghosts.

_Kings Rising, last chapter._

 

 

 

\---

 

 

 

Laurent sees Damianos flees somewhere, and for once Laurent is glad Damen is not that dumb. Int his unfamiliar building of Ios, Laurent pushes himself through the crowd. He takes a sword from a dead soldier on the ground and fights everyone who tries to stop him. His head colouring is not an advantage. Everyone can spots him, but he is the King of Vere now, and even the Akielon soldiers who loyal to Kastor is kind of hesitate to throw the blow. It doesn't matter. Laurent is missing Damen fast. He stabs one soldier and doesn't take the sword back. Laurent has to chase Damen quick.

Damen leads him to the emptier hallways, and he ends up in the Akielon slave bath. Damen must know some secret passages, and he must realise where would Kastor go in the midst of chaotic trial earlier. When Laurent enters the bath with its high ceilings, he hasn't seen Damen yet. There is an archway leads to another archway, and Laurent takes his steps slowly. His legs are tired, and if he must face Kastor after this, he knows he has to slowed down his walk to regain his strength.

“There can't be two Kings of Akielos.”

Somewhere in front of him, there are people shouting, and then the sound of sword falls to the marble floor. Laurent hears it as he rushed forward, Kastor's voice, cold like his own.

“You should have stayed a slave in Vere.”

The first thing Laurent realise is that Damen is on the floor, at the end of the stairs, lying down, wet in his a puddle of his own blood. From his position it looks like he is trying to get his sword back, six paces ahead of him. And then, Kastor.

Kastor, with a bloodied knive on his hand, and Laurent knows it's Damen's. He is bending to pick his own sword.

“ _Damen_ ,” Laurent hears himself says.

The Akielon brothers turn their head and see him. Laurent ignores Kastor and rushes to Damen's side. It is a lot of blood, pooling down around Damen's body. Laurent, clouded with anger, breathes out and feels himself telling Damen to press down on his wound in distant voice. He hears his own blood rushing in his ears, and in the tight situation he doesn't have much plan. But it is clear that he has to kill Kastor.

Knowing that Damen will stop him from doing so, Laurent links Damen's cuff to the slave chains on the floor, and he rises up. He picks Damen's sword. It is heavy in his hand, but it is somewhat comforting. The grip is still warm from Damen's hand earlier.

“He won't kill you,” Laurent hears himself says to Kastor. This new surge of feelings are new to Laurent – the urge to protect, and to protect Damen, of all people. “But I will.”

Laurent hears Damen's gasp of horror when Kastor launches his attack, which he skillfuly avoid. He begins to draw all the tactics he has learned, with his old swordmaster, _with Auguste_ , and forces himself to think of a plan in his mind. He hears Damen struggles under the chain's binding, and if Laurent has time, he would laugh at the situation.

He is fighting for Damianos of Akielos, the Prince-killer, the very same person who has killed his own dearest brother, Auguste. Laurent remembers how he genuinely wished for Damen's death on the flogging post. His uncle brings him the goal of his life, it is almost like a gift. Except Laurent knows it is not done out of his uncle's kindness. There is something. There is always something.

And then comes the endless night with Damen offering him battle strategies, best travelling routes, good advices. He has seen Damen's genuine effort to keep him save, out of his role to be Laurent's slave. And Laurent sees past those brute muscles and messy hair, finding a warm, kind heart. Damen is right, Laurent thinks as he swings his sword forward, that he will treat Damen's heart tenderly – because Damen deserves it.

When Kastor defends himself with a motion of gestures, Laurent realise painfully on how similar it is with Damen's pattern. It is, perhaps, the result of the same lesson learnt from the same swordmaster, just like him and his brother. Laurent has sparred with Damen several times, learning the pattern and the style, carefully practicing it with Jord, thinking on how he would surprise Damen with the familiar style when Laurent finally get the chance to face and kill him.

Laurent dodges and attacks, ignoring the sickening feelings of how it resembles him attacking Damen, but with sharper precision. Part of him tells that this feels wrong; other part of him is cheering in a mocking voice, reminding him of his old goal: to kill the Prince-killer.

It has been a ghost for several weeks now; the thought lurks deep inside his mind. It is hidden, but it never leaves. Now it chooses its time to springs free from the chain Laurent has put on himself. It diffuses with the urge to protect, blinding him, and yet it clears his vision, ironically. Laurent sets his eyes to Kastor with new determination. He feels it in his body, in the way he swings the heavy sword with his tired arms. He know Damen must realise it as well, from where he lies wounded on the marble floor. Laurent's movements are now swiftier, smoother, almost like dancing; and he leads Kastor in their own dance now. Laurent can do it. _For Auguste,_ his other part of him cheered maliciously.

Laurent prays silently, whispers his brother's name in his mind as he flashes attacks to Kastor. It will be going to an end. And Laurent is the one who will end it.

He steps back, pushed by Kastor's sword knocking on his, and hears Damen's cry. It would appear as a mistake on Kastor and Damen's eyes. But it is not. It is perfect. With all his strength left, Laurent counters Kastor's attack and drives his own sword to Kastor's chest. The sound of Kastor's body is loud in the silence of the slave bath when he hits the floor.

Laurent stands still, panting, and he looses his grip on the bloodied sword. He has done it. He has killed the Prince-killer; his obsession since his brother's death. Laurent doesn't look at Kastor's body – he smiles at the Akielon-styled decorations hanging on the walls. Here he is. On the enemy's fort, _and killing the Prince-killer –_

But Kastor is not Damen. Kastor is the traitor, who is allied up with his uncle and tries to overthrow his throne.

Laurent feels himself back slowly. It was a fight between brothers and ghosts. He has killed the Prince-killer, in a way, and he has won.

When he turns to face Damen, the images of revenge are gone. Now Laurent sees the man he has grown to respect and love. The ghost of Auguste's death is no longer haunting him, following Damen's figure every time he sees him. It is just Damen now. His Akielon brother, who has fight alongside him. His lover.

Laurent wonders if Damen knows that his strength earlier comes from the ugly revenge to kill _him._ But it doesn't matter now. The bells in Ios are ringing. Both of them are the king now. Damen kissing him despite of his knive wound. Him kissing Damen back, as desperate as the wounded king.

There would be a lot of thing to be take care of after this, but it comes later. For once, Laurent lets himself relax and melts under Damen's mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me at twitter! @/flyingaltean


End file.
